Backlash over delay in Salisbury public health warning as 500 are told to wash their clothes, phones and glasses a week after spy attack

Punters were told to scrub personal items such as phones, handbags and jewellery with cleaning or baby wipes

By Charlie Parker and Jacob Dirnhuber

12th March 2018, 12:45 am

Updated: 12th March 2018, 1:10 am

GOVERNMENT health bosses are facing a furious backlash after taking a WEEK to warn Salisbury residents that up to 500 people could face long-term health issues after coming into contact with a deadly nerve agent.

Hundreds of pub-goers and diners were urged to wash their clothes and phones after traces of the toxin were discovered in areas visited by poisoned Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

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Officers guard the cordoned off Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury

Chief medical officer for England Dame Sally Davies said there was concern that "long term exposure to these substances may over weeks, and particularly months, give rise to health problems."

She advised a "belt and braces approach" to anyone who was in The Mill pub between 1.30pm last Sunday and 11.10pm on Monday, or the nearby Zizzi restaurant between 1.30pm on Sunday and 9pm on Monday.

Punters were told to scrub personal items such as phones, handbags and jewellery with cleaning or baby wipes.

Public Health England issued the advice as a precaution, but said the risk to the general public remains "low".

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Traces of the mysterious nerve agent were also discovered in The Mill pub, where the Russian spy had been drinking with his daughter

Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are fighting for their lives in hospital

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A picture taken through glass doors shows the inside of The Mill pub, which remains closed as investigations continue

The BBC reported that traces of the poison had been found at the Italian restaurant where the father and daughter had a meal before they were found unconscious last Sunday, in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The restaurant has been closed to the public since Sunday, with investigators in hazard gear combing key sites for clues.

Salisbury residents have hit out at the government for keeping them in the dark about the possible contamination.

Maureen Jones, 73, who has spent all her life in the city, fumed to the Daily Telegraph: "I can't understand why it has taken a week for them to tell people."

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A police tent has been erected in a back garden on the road where the former Russian intelligence agent lives

Julie Green who also lives in Salisbury, blasted: "You can't help but be a little concerned when you come in to the city centre and see large areas cordoned off and lots of people in protective suits around you."

Dan Munday added: “Enough of this cloak and dagger stuff, let the public know what’s going on, it is our city after all.”

Another local who was in the pub at the same time as Mr Skripal and his daughter, said: "I am not reassured because I do not know all the facts. What are the long term effects?"

Jenny Harries, of Public health England, said: "The immediate risk to the general public on evidence we had remains low… that has not changed. The news doesn't alter that risk…

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According to the BBC, traces of the nerve agent has been found in Zizzi where the father and daughter ate before collapsing in Salisbury

"We have had rigorous scientific analysis and found some limited contamination in Zizzi and Mill Pub... this limited exposure will not have harmed their health to date.

"But there may be a very small health risk associated with repeated contact with belongings which may have been contaminated by this substance."

There is also no suggestion that anyone dining at the time had anything to do with the nerve agent.

Police charged a man with breaching one of the cordons. Local man Jamie Knight, 30, is accused of entering the site on The Maltings on Friday evening.

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Chemical experts are probing whether the the flowers Sergei took to his wife's grave were laced with poison

He was charged with assaulting a police officer, common assault, criminal damage to a police vehicle and a racially aggravated public order offence.

It comes as chemical experts are reported to be probing whether flowers taken by the former spy to his wife's grave were laced with poison.

A "a highly placed source" told the The Mail on Sunday that one line of inquiry is that the bouquet may have been laced with poison.

This possibility is centred on if the flowers were sent to the former double agent's home by whoever targeted him accompanied by a card to suggest they came from a friend of his wife and a request to take them to the cemetery.

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Sergei Skripal's wife's grave in Salisbury

Yesterday, Sergeant Nick Bailey , 38, - who fell critically ill after coming into contact with the nerve agent - said he 'does not consider himself a hero.'

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: "Nick would like us to say on his behalf that he and his family are hugely grateful for all the messages of support from the public, and colleagues from the police family.

"He wants to say that he does not consider himself a ‘hero’, he states he was merely doing his job."

Counter terrorism police investigating the suspected nerve agent attack have identified over 200 witnesses and are looking at more than 240 pieces of evidence, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has said.

Following a meeting of the government’s Cobra committee, she said there were more than 250 counter terrorism police involved in the investigation which was proceeding with “speed and professionalism”.